The Ukrainian government expects on February 21-22 to hold first consultations with potential partners in managing the gas transportation system (GTS), Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion has reported.

"We will conduct first interviews with those companies that sent their offers to Ukraine on February 21-22. We have about seven interested partners, two of whom are well-known gas consortia in Europe. Belgium, France, Holland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Italy, Romania, Greece and Germany expressed their interest in the joint management of the national gas transportation system," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Kistion noted applications from the interested parties will be accepted till March 1, 2018.

As reported, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine on December 28, 2017 officially invited potential partners in managing the country's GTS to preliminary consultations. Invitations were sent to the U.S. embassy, as well as the EU Delegation to Ukraine with the request to distribute this information among 25 EU countries.